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47 thoughts on “Discuss Kicking The Pigeon”

Thanks for this thought-provoking essay. Please “subscribe me.” Looks like I may be watching the redevelopment from the sidelines in Atlanta. Long story. By the way, last year my folks and I rehabbed a formerly abandoned property on California Ave. There are now four apartments and a store. One is now leased to a “Housing Choice Voucher” tenant. We are negotiating with a non-profit to inhabit the storefront, too.

Three years ago while on a flight to fla. i saw an episode of 60 minutes. it trumpeted the new mixed-income communities in chicago. the basis of the segment was the creation of this new housing that would replace the so called ghetto projects. black tenants who were seeking homes in the “new communities” had to go through CORI checks and “trainings” on how to be a good neighbor.The trainer went so far as to say “some of them don’t know how to take out the trash or say hello” Whites on the other hand could simply buy their new home without any lessons or criminal background checks. As a tenant organizer in boston i see families forced out of thier homes to make way for “revitalization”. Very few bother to ask where these people will go.

You pose questions we will carry forward, as âKicking the Pigeonâ? and other related stories unfold on this site in coming weeks. We hope the comments section of The View will, among other things, provide a forum for discussing practical strategies. An immediate need is to broaden the conversation. Please spread the word and urge others to check The View regularly. Thanks.

Study successful prosecutions of complaints and consider using similar tactics.

Trace the physical network and temporal patterns of violence surrounding the officers in question.

While it is risky to ascribe motive, it can be helpful to consider motive and try to neutralize it. Could provoking law-breaking behavior compensate for inability to effect good law enforcement for crimes already committed? Then discipline and retraining for the latter. Could sexual abuse of others be part of a cycle of abuse suffered? Then discipline and counseling. If there is tacit approval for provocative and illegal techniques from superiors, then is that part of the department institutionally ill? Then an investigation by internal affairs and an institutional psychologist.

Get individuals in outer circles of influence in legislature, executive, and judicial to find out for themselves. It’s then up to them whether to apply pressure for change.

Suggest that the woman increase her anonymity.

Suggest that the woman increase her physical security.

Suggest that the woman put her well-being first and social justice second, since the risk of martydom seems high, and living well is the best revenge. In time she may find a center of power from which to achieve justice. If she has any health issues, especially those associated with recent abuse, suggest that she start clearing them up so she can be healthy and strong and feel good about herself.

Suggest that the woman come to understand the habits and predilections of anyone who pursues her, in order to avoid them.

If the woman has incarceration history or substance abuse issues, suggest that she get into a long-term, goal-oriented, life-restructuring program: well-moderated groups can be effective.

If the woman has associates who attract police attention, she must consider the risk of getting abused collaterally and choose carefully when and with whom to associate.

Wow! These articles are very disturbing. I know that they are probably true, and that “alleged” is just an arbitrary term to use until the “facts” are established. Nonetheless, what can we do as a community to combat such (police) brutality and lawlessness?

I live in the Bronzeville area in what is referred to as Carver Plaza. Although, I am a homeowner, some of the connecting (low income) townhomes are, in fact, run down or “abandoned,” if you will. It’s not too far fetched for the City to “condemn” certain properties and/or “take over” the area for redevelopment. What can be done as a community resident, homeowner, concerned citizen to “save” these homes? The area I’m referring to sits on 37th Street to 37th Place between Indiana and Wabash. I look forward to your reply.

I write in response to Tom’s comments. First, thanks to Tom for sharing his ideas. I hope that we will be able to open a discussion of some of the issues he raises in his post.

Tom hints at an important issue: that of systematic, institutional oppression and our roles and responsibilities as individual moral citizens to respond to such oppression when observed or encountered.

Tom suggests that perhaps the woman in the case Jamie describes should do the following: increase her anonymity, increase her physical security, spend time and energy to try to understand the habits and predilections of anyone who might pursue her so that she can avoid them, and consider dropping associates who might attract police attention. I ask you to imagine the time, energy, resources, and restructuring of one’s life that would be required to accomplish these tasks. More than that even, imagine the loss of self that would be suffered from this. Become anonymous. Lose yourself. Lock in and stay home (except even there it seems one is not guaranteed safety but only the illusion of it). Study your aggressors so that might avoid them and so too avoid provoking them with your mere existence. Give up your friends. Be invisible. In the end, what is left?

Such an approach risks systematically reinforcing the idea the locus of responsibility lies with the victims of violence and oppression rather than with its perpetrators. Thinking about solutions to the problem of systematic oppression in this way is disabling to its victims, empowering for the oppressors, and in the end breeds hopelessness. I suggest that we resist apparent solutions that require victims to surrender their freedom and freedom of expression as a means of survival.

I work near Cabrini Green and up until I moved near that development I was one of those people who didn’t believe what residents said about how the police treat them. I am here as a law abiding citizen and one who had a healthy respect for the police to say I have witnessed the inhumane treatment imposed on some of the residents, the way the police curse at the residents, the way they harass African Americans driving and walking in the vicinity of Cabrini. I know it is not all police but the ones who break the law they are supposed to uphold gives the Chicago Police Department a bad name.

Very powerful project. I’ve been touched by your reporting. The shocking nature of Bond’s story was enough to expose me to a “space of fresh perception.” I’ve noticed the wall of highrises disappear from the east side of the Dan Ryan over the past few years and have wondered where the residents have gone. Please keep us all abreast of these stories, specifically the culmination of Bond’s lawsuit.

Hey Jamie,
It was a delight to see “View from the Ground” in view again. This story as all in the past are told as real as I lived, work, and wrote stories on CHA in South Street Journal. The general public in many parts are blind and at times, prefer to be blind on the social injustice made to citizens of public housing in the name of ‘Transformation’. This may be over stating but the story remind me of what is going on to families in Iraq.
Congrads on beginning these stories back. As both medias are back to tell the untold stories, if all possible I would love to have the View banner stories reprinted in South Street Journal.

I just recently had been hooked up to the internet, so when I first came across the stories about the Chicago “transformation” I was horrified. I spent from age 16 to 19 on the streets. It was hard enough as one person, but with a family? I am actually going to college now to major in Human Services so that I can help people like the displaced tenents of the housing projects. It is horrific that housing authority allowed people to live in the winter with no heat and hot water, especally when a baby died because of it. It seems to be all in the name of real estate. I have just subscibed to The View, and I look forward to more articles.

WOW! These articles ARE very disturbing. I know that these allegations are not true!!! It’s very unfortunate that our police officers have to take this public nonsense from a so-called reporter/wanna be journalist. It is unfortunate that his wife was raped and the evil person who did that was never caught, but please don’t take it out on our men in blue who go out everyday and risk their life to serve and protect. Of course the bad guy is saying the police are doing these bad things, for crying out loud – they are trying to stay out of jail! Don’t you get it!! By all means, as you read “Kicking the Pigeon”, please take with a grain of salt…

Almost every person arrested, if asked to give their side of the story, by the way which happens in a court of law!, would most likely say how innocent they were and how the officers were setting them up, treating them badly, beating them, etc…, to try and save themselves from an arrest or jail time. I have a feeling when the outcome of this is decided upon in a court of law, where the officers DO get to tell their side of the story, the “Kicking the Pigeon” dramatization will hopefully be seen in as it is – ficticous.

I wonder if Nina notices how inhumane civilians treat civilians in Cabrini and the other surrounding public housing. Perhaps this is why the police get so angery. The police are human too, and it’s probably difficult night after night, day after day, to watch humans treat each other so inhumanely. And by the way, isn’t their job to get the drugs out of the buildings, along with the gang bangers and lookouts (Betty Boop), to make life better for those who are innocent. When you hear about a child getting shot due to gang activity – remember it’s the cops who are out there, yeah, maybe getting angry, but putting their life on the line to clean out the bad guys and doing what they can to prevent this from happening again and again. And, I’m sure no body wants to see another innocent person getting hurt because some drug dealing gang banger is on the street because he/SHE cried “police brutality”! I believe the cops are doing the bext they can in the war against gangs and drugs in this city.

I read all the “kicking the pigeon” articles and was disturbed by what I read yet not surprised. In a human rights class at college, we took a look at people’s stories in low-income neighborhoods and abuse by the DC “Metro” police with similar findings of threats and abuse.

Besides the obvious sense of outrage and sadness that the stories elicit, it really speaks to the fundamental question of how can a city, a society, a nation, etc. keep checks and balances on power and on those who wield it. For me, the article speaks to the specific concepts of corruption and transparency. An increase in the former is almost always coupled with a decrease in the latter, and vice versa. Without constant vigilance, a small yet certain amount of those in power will always attempt to exploit those without.

For the police officers, clearly there is no adequate oversight and unless those in high positions feel pressure from a greater amount of people, these situations will continually happen in one form or another.

I see many parallels with wartime accounts I have read, which obviously is a bad thing. Most recently the accounts of terror suspects at detention camps who have died while in incarceration, due to psychological and physical trauma and an overall lack of caring by the guards.

I wonder if Nina notices how inhumane civilians treat civilians in Cabrini and the other surrounding public housing. Perhaps this is why the police get so angery. The police are human too, and it’s probably difficult night after night, day after day, to watch humans treat each other so inhumanely.

Tina’s point is well-taken. Talking with officers who work or have worked public housing beats, you see that many of them struggle with some of the bad things they see happen. But similarly, several officers I have spoken with have expressed frustration at the official policies that make it hard to get anyone but addicts and lookouts. The truth is that the “war on drugs” is hard on good police. And, what Jamie says–“some officers are made uncomfortable by the license this perverse logic confers upon them; they know if they don’t restrain themselves, nobody else will”–is deeply accurate and starts to raise the importance of systems of accountability.

Tina goes on to say:

I believe the cops are doing the bext they can in the war against gangs and drugs in this city.

The problem with this statement is that belief is not enough. There is a marked lack of systems of accountability (Matt makes this point clearly) that will investigate claims of brutality. Everybody knows this. An Office of Professional Standards investigator once told me directly of their frustration that a clear case of brutality came back “unsustained”.

Further, we have seen–over and over–policing that is essentially random; grabbing people and beating them regardless of their involvement in the drug trade or in violent crimes. We have seen police harass residents in the most degrading ways without determining that the harassed is so much as a possible criminal.

The Founders of the U.S. clearly saw the need for systems of accountability; their Enlightenment scepticism led them to formulate a system where no branch of government had absolute power under the law. Do you think that Madison would accept that wide-spread belief that the president is doing his or her best is grounds for sustaining the law, systems, and policies that create the role? Belief in the police?

In an interesting way, Tina’s belief that the police are doing the best they can coincides with my desire that the police do the best they can to ensure we live in a just society. What I’ve seen with my own eyes, on numerous occassions, is that the police in many situations are not only not doing their best, but are abusing their power. Not all of the police by any means, but enough to warrant serious scrutiny. It is a fundamental principle that those who have been given such power should be subject to careful and constant oversight.

One of the goals of The View is to replace belief as a basis for the public discourse surrounding these issues with a rigor that comes from direct personal experience, specificity, ongoing monitoring , and careful assessment of available data. The larger goal, in my view, is justice. Categorically denying the destructive aspects of the drug trade and of gang culture does not contribute to the pursuit of justice. But neither does the categorical criminalization of all public housing residents. In practice, the second option not only fails to restrain and punish those who hurt their neighbors, but gives license to the powerful to abuse, harass, and displace law-abiding citizens. The years I have spent working in public housing have convinced me of the deep necessity of systems of accountability. Giving the police carte blanche power in public housing is counter-productive. It defeats the goal of justice. It hurts the innocent, and it fails to address crime.

It never seize to amaze me as to how ignorant people are until the day that they happen to have the shoe on the other foot. Tina needs to understand that having faith in a system that works is one thing, but when repeated circumstances surround officials that are in an authoritive positions it needs to be seen as it is. Remember not everyone can be or will be found honorable.

If the Chicago Police Department get one complaint or several complaints everyone can’t be a liar, there is something terribly wrong because the system does not work and when is the city going to to held accountable for inhumane practices, lack of respect and judgement? Take into consideration that all the citizens (who are not in position of authority or have prestigous circumstances) are wrong all the time

Speaking of the Court of Law, not every judge follows the law or practices it for that matter. Consider the fact that there is a Code of Ethics among judges, senators, officers and others, if not, there wouldn’t be so many heads turning when it came to justice.

Don’t be so certain that there is no validity to some of the complaints that have been lodged. As for this case, I’m not surprised because I’ve seen and experienced the Chicago Police Department tactics and it was not pleasant!!!!

I MOVED NEAR CABRINI GREEN AND ON A JOG I STOPPED AT STARBUCKS COFFEE AFTER I LEFT, TWO AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE SUBJECTS APPROACHED ME ONE OF THE MEN HIT ME IN MY FACE, KNOCKED MY COFFEE FROM MY HANDS, ROBBED ME OF MY MONEY, MY CELL PHONE,MY IPOD, AND THEN KICKED ME KNOCKING ME TO THE GROUND. THE MEN THEN RAN OFF, I OBSERVED THEM RUN INTO A BUILDING IN THE CABRINI GREEN HOUSING COMPLEX. I CALLED THE POLICE AT STARBUCKS AND THEY ARRIVED IN SEVERAL MINUTES. THEY RELOCATED ME TO THE BUILDING TO SEE IF I COULD OBSERVE THE OFFENDERS. I DID NOT SEE THESE INDIVIDUALS, BUT I DID OBSERVE SEVERAL PEOPLE JUST HANGING OUT IN FRONT AND BACK OF THE BUILDING. SEVERAL ADDITIONAL POLICE UNITS CAME TO THE SCENE AND STARTED TO INTERVIEW THE PEOPLE OUTSIDE, ALL OF THE INDIVIDUALS INTERVIEWED INFORMED THE POLICE THAT THEY OBSERVED NOTHING AND OBSERVED NO ONE RUNNING INTO THE BUILDING, WHICH I KNOW WAS A LIE. MY POINT TO MY STORY IS THAT THESE SO CALLED LAW- ABIDING CITIZENS ALLOW AND TURN THEIR BACKS TO THE CRIMINALS ALLOWING A SAFE HAVEN FOR THEM TO HIDE. I AM SURE THAT THE DRUG DEALERS GET THE SAME TREATMENT. I ATTENDED A CAPS MEETING IN MY AREA AND SEVERAL RESIDENCE FROM CHA WERE IN ATTENDANCE. WHILE AT THIS MEETING I LISTENED TO THE RESIDENCE AND SOME COMPLAINED ABOUT THE POLICE AND WHAT THEY ARE NOT DOING. WHILE I LISTENED TO SEVERAL STORIES, NOT ONE OF THE CHA RESIDENCE SPOKE OUT ON HOW TO STOP THE CRIMINAL ELEMENT IN THEIR BUILDINGS AND WHO THEY ARE, IF THESE RESIDENCE ARE REALLY LAW-ABIDING THEY WOULD NOT ALLOW THESE CRIMES TO TAKE PLACE IN THEIR BUILDINGS. THE RESIDENCE CHOOSE TO IGNORE THE CRIMES SO THEY ARE JUST AS GUILTY AS THE CRIMINALS. I AM SURE NINA, RON AND MATT WOULD LIKE TO MAKE EXCUSES WITH WHY THEY TURN THEIR BACKS AND AID CRIMINALS BUT THERE IS NONE. IF YOU ARE DOWN ON YOUR LUCK AND NEED TO LIVE IN CHA TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR COMMUNITY AND STOP THE CRIMINALS YOURSELF AND STOP LOOKING FOR EVERYONE ELSE TO DO IT.

SHE IS FULL OF SHIT.. SHE IS A DOPE DEALER WHO ALLOWS THE DEALERS IN THE BUILDING TO HID IN HER APARTMENT WHEN THE POLICE. HIT THE BUIDING.. HAVE YOU SEEN THE WAY SHE LOOKS.. SHES A CRACK ADDICT… WHO WOULD ASSAULT HER…..

THIS SITE SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN… IT NEVER REPORTS THE TRUTH ON THE ISSUES AT HAND… THESE OFFICERS IN QUESTION ARE SOME OF THE BEST IN THE DEPARTMENT,, THEY SHOULD BE COMMENDED FOR THE WORK THEY DID AND THE WORK THEY CONTINUE TO DO… I WISH MORE OFFICERS WERE LIKE THE ONES MENTIONED IN THESE ARTICLES. IF WE HAD MORE HARD WORKING POLICE OFFICERS LIKE SEINITZ, SAVICKAS, STEGMILLER, UTERAS, SCHOEFF.. WE WOULD LIVE IN A SAFER ENVIORNMENT FREE FROM THE GANG BANGERS AND NARCOTIC DEALERS….

If Jaimie Kalvin would learn to be a unbiased reporter and learn to do some research, you would learn that the tactical team in which these officers belonged to half the team is black along with thier Sgt. I feel your lack of reporting didn’t want to mention that because it would take away from your anti-white police reporting. Reporters like Jaimie only report what spin they want to put and it is apparent that Jaimie should get a clue. It is a shame that you can report names of people and drag them into the mud with out even doing a bit of research. Jaimie I want to let you know that research isn’t driving down the street and finding a mentally disabled person who suffers from delusional problems ask them a few questions and report it as facts. Next you can go to Cook County jail and interview the inmates and call them reliable sources. Jaimie you are a racist an a idiot.

Jamie Kalven will be sued over this article and his participation in this lie. Ater all said and done he will still be a nobody except a little man in a huge world of better people than those he thinks he is helping. But until he is a victim by the same people he is helping he may or may not understand. Because he thinks it’s ok to sell drugs and impose violence on each other. Ms Bonds choose to live where she lives no one forced her to stay. Oh maybe you liberals say she is a victim of societyor our government well go see her and reach into your own pocket and help her. I did’nt think so. Maybe you can spend six days a week eight hours a day working in the same rotten conditions these people live in. Like these police officers have been doing .Its no joke when you have a family to go home to and a family who raised these officers who cares about them. These officers become slaves to the people of Public Housing and are there when called upon not thinking about themselfs But thinking of another victim they are willing to help. The police dont have an option not to help.It’s their JOB and it’s their character. Thats why they do the job they asked to do for the rest of thier lives they are glad to be slaves to the public. Jamie Kalven I just hope you never need police service and if you do some day i bet you would never volunteer to the police this BULLSHIT article.

TO the writer of the “kicking the pigeon” story, you obviosly have no idea what it is like living or working in that environment. I happen to know those officers. Just because they’re white and the people they lock up in that area are black does not make them racist. Those officers are heroes to the housing residents who do not sell drugs, use drugs, possess hand guns and commit crime. Why don’t you look at their arrest record and see what they’ve taken off the street. Take a look at the rap sheets of all the criminals they’ve locked up! Keep up the good work guys, whatever your so called street name is.

People have no right to paralyze each other with fear, and no one should have to live in this perpetual nightmare. There is a moral minimum that must be maintained, that is being violated constantly, and is completely unnaceptable. The basic security and liberty that is promised must also be enforced, and those who attempt to deny must be held accountable.

This is about a betrayal of trust, and a misuse of power. Helping people and protecting them are not contradictory. We cannot let the evil impact of a few drive away the decency and goodness of the many towards each other. This should be about helping people, not giving in to prejudices. Having disdain for others is an ugly look on anybody- it rots their souls and pollutes their mind. Those who care nothing for the problems of others, or who look down on others with contempt, should be ashamed of themselves. Life is too short to live in so much hate.

Progress cannot happen by itself, catalysts must occur. When can this happen? Only when we stop judging those we do not know, only when we stop labeling those we have never met. Only when we cease our assumptions and open our minds and ears to each other can we begin to understand. Only when we begin to see each other as fellow human beings can we begin to get anywhere.

I would like to thank you for your work. It is criminal that repeated cases of brutality by some police officers are allowed to go unpunished and largely uninvestigated, no matter what the alleged reasons for brutality are. There is simply too much evidence to be shrugged off. Those who dismiss it on whatever grounds without demanding fair and thorough investigation are violating the principles on which this country still prides itsef. Regardless of the behavior, character, race, gender, class, morals, criminal convictions, every person is entitled by the constitution to equal protection under the law. Even a mureder, a drug-dealer, a gang-banger, while being punished, and rightly so, must be treated as a human being. By denying fair treatment to some, we tread a dangerous path as a society.

Unfortunately, until one lives in the danger of police brutality, there is little incentive to fight against it. It is all too easy to shrug it off as lies and fictions of people whose character is reprehensible. It is all too easy to deny the capability to commit brutality in one’s self and in others “like us”. Police officers are seen as model citizens: honest, fair, risking their lives for justice and peace. I would say that all of the above are true for many, if not most policemen, and I am grateful to them. However, our comfortable ideas of all police as every citizen’s friend must be critically examined. I believe that it is possible to police this city is way that would be both more effective and more humane; more professional, too.

As of now, however, the CPD has a long history of uninvestigated, covered-up, unreported and unacknowledged abuse. I would like to recommend to everyone interested in this case the book by John Conroy titled “Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People,” investigating, among other things, the case of the torture of arrestees by CPD Area 2 detectives in 1969-1988. It recounts many familiar themes, pitting unsympathetic plaintiffs against noble and upstanding police officers with remarkable track records. It also concerns the silence of the bystanders. Many of us who live in this city and choose to ignore the abuses that are taking place.

Jamie,
I think it is very significant and important to reiteraate your point about the sympathy for the gang member/drug dealer being a result of being pushed there by brutal and unjust authority more so than being attracted by the lifestyle. The election in the Ukrain was overturned with less provocation than in our last presidential Selection. In a recent poll, 70% think Daley knew about the scandals, but 56% approve of his performance. Even if the number are contrived, the fact they the have the nerve to broadcast them is as frightening as if they are true. With all the corruption at the top, is there any wonder that there is disorder amongst the lower classes? I don’t think there is any way to meaningfully improve the life at the bottom without changing the top. A new class of criminality called “Institutional Crimes Against Society” with punishments that include asset forfeiture would be a significant first step.

I think that people forget this is a “war”. Let’s look at Iraq, or Vietnam, or any other number of countries we’ve been at war with. When you have a mix of good and bad people in the same area, who look the same and live in the same situation, it gets to a point where you equate everyone as the enemy. You get to a point where you don’t believe that there are GOOD people mixed in with the ones fighting against you, throwing bombs at you, shooting you. You start to fight against everyone. If you’re put into this situation it’s difficult on everyone involved – the people who have to uphold their given duties and the people who are just trying to live – as the latter becomes the enemy to the former and the latter starts to look at the former as their enemy.

The Police are in charge here – they have the power given by the state, the city, the country. The residents do not have any power to curtail this. This is how it has always been, and unfortunately until we as a society are willing to assist EVERYONE who wants the help, it will never change.

Thanks for the good work Jaime!

If anyone out there doubts the way that living a life in this type of environment will affect your growing up and getting out, I encourage you to read the book, “There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz.

People need to remember that if you breed poverty it won’t be changed until you do something to amend it. If you’re born into it, it’s difficult to leave.

Several “ironies” come to mind after reading your project piece and the discussion pieces. Firstly, this issue is as much about power as it is about race ( a socially constructed mode of human categorization-see Glenn Loury’s book, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality ). The implication for those of us who consider ourselves to be law-abiding citizens is that we have “earned” certain rights and that those who are perceived to be law-breakers are somehow less deserving.

Secondly, regarding the concept of oppression, the subjugation by unjust use of force or authority, any citizen may find himself/herself in an unjust situation ( e.g. being fired by an employer, being audited by the IRS, our child being miseducated at school, being defrauded in a business deal, etc. ). Our recourse is to seek a solution which may entail legal processes that are afforded to all citizens, the “lawful” and the “unlawful”. The question then becomes: “Are all citizens afforded the same degree of access to these solutions?”

Thirdly, the idea of a public school system came about because the “founding fathers” felt that the young country needed an informed populace ( see Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia” ). Issues such as the one under discussion here are related to how and how well our citizens are inculcated by our schools. Who has been in charge of District 299 public schools since 1995? Do we hold the mayor to the same measure of accountability as we hold failing schools and students?

Finally, dialogue and perhaps dialectical thinking along with questioning will create a pathway…”Difference of opinion leads to inquiry, and inquiry to truth; and that, I am sure, is the ultimate and sincere object of us both.” ( Thomas J. )

I really don’t understand. Regardless of whether the cops are in the right or whether the citizens are in the right, don’t we want to side with the citizens by default?

Tell, me, those of you who side with the cops: if they came to your house with allegations against you should we assume that they’re right? It’s easy to be “righteous” when the situation doesn’t involve you being the victim — alleged or not.

In any case, how do we lose by having better oversight over those wielding power?

I am saddened by this account of violations done to Diane Bond. Corrupt police officers have a lifestyle where generally there are no bad consequences, thus, creating a self-serving shoot-from-the-hip team of people without a conscience. Like another poster mentioned, there are good and bad in any sample of people. It would make sense to punish people who are in positions of power to harsher stiffer sentences. In the state where I live, the government was considering leanient penalties for crimes committed by police officers because of low recruitment rates over the last few years.

Los Angeles is a relatively young city with a long tradition of police…heavy-handedness.

As a L.A. native, you would never screw with the cops as a kid. You would rather screw with everyone else, but never the cops ’cause they would take you for a ride to a hood that was not yours and then leave you there.

Those were the kinder acts from the cops who ran Rampart. The more egregious acts, which have been very well documented, are simply criminal (though jail time has not been forthcoming).

The L.A.P.D. has often been able to leverage technology to meet their duty of policing such a large geographic expanse. That use of technology scares me for two main reasons:
1. L.A. is a city with a significant number of immigrants. Immigrant rights are constantly being trampled on. Most of society is not uncomfortable with abuses against immigrants, particularly if the immigrants happen to be undocumented.
2. L.A. is also cursed with great poverty abuting great wealth. The job of the police, and lawyers, is to protect existing property interests. This means that the more technology they have, the more accurate the bulls-eye on communities which are low income and/or of color.

This fits into the greater scheme of our movement towards a surveilence society. As a techie, that scares me and I am going to fight it by evangelizing Tor servers, Linux/BSD, PGP/GPG, and creating personal relationships that technology can further, but not destroy.

Let’s not forget we have REAL-ID, something aproximating a drivers license, and, “the Sensebrenner” bill that all beef up the survelience (or Homeland Security) apparatus.

In full disclosure, my brother was a Rampart Explorer (like Jr.ROTC for cops).

Don’t you people get it. This is all about FREE MONEY. Mrs Bond knows that her drug infested building is being shut down. And she is not eligable for section 8 housing because her own kids were arrested selling drugs,thats part of the CHA policy. You stupid people are so cunsumed in what this ass jamie is saying. If you really care this poor woman jump in your car and spend the day with her. I did’nt think so. If Mrs Bond is considered to be retarted then how could she be so smart to make up such a story. Well of course it’s not her speaking it’s Jaime and her attorneys. They have guided her through this big lie for a training course at the University Chicago for the Law students. Thats there job! You stupid people need to open your eyes a watch for a displaced CHA resident coming soon to your neighborhood. Don’t call the Police when your a victim or your kids. Just say it’s ok and call Jaime he will walk you through it.

A recent article in the Chicago Sun Times was about the alarming increase in violence at Chicago Public Schools. Many of these kids are having their schools closed because of low enrollments and poor test scores.
These kids are now being shipped into schools that were doing fine, for example Hyde Park H.S. It is fustrating to see this happen and watch excellent teachers leave for fear of some kids threatining to hurt them because they received a failing grades.
I was working as a substitute teacher recently at a Chicago public school. While attempting to teach class a fight broke out between two students. I attempted to break it up when I was hit from behind by another student. The next thing I knew I was being kicked and punched by several students.
School security came to break up the fight and I received minor injuries.
One of the students who started the fight came from Stateway Garden and who still lives in the area. After the fight the student was suspended, and arrested however he is a juvenile and was released to his mother.
A few days later his mother came to the school and alledged that I picked on her son and started the altercation because I singled him out. She further claims that she has hired a lawyer and is going to sue.
I have been teaching for 10yrs and am sad to say that I am looking for a new line of work.
The school is now investigating the incident and may actually let the student back into the school. I guess the threat of a law suit can make some institutions break down and turn their heads.
To me this is a outrage and a shame that disruptive and violent behavior can actually be encouraged. What further lesson is taught to this student who now thinks he can act like a animal, get suspended, arrested, and then make up a lie and hire an attorney so he can get back into school and possibly recieve financial retribution. It is sick and I am sick and tired of it.
I watched Hurricane Katrina on the news and observed people act as animals and shoot at police officers and firefighters who came to help them and then got to blame it on the government for not coming to aid them, when the shooting, looting, raping and killing happened almost immediatley.
I try to keep an open mind on things but I continue to see the black community fail on social issues and get a pass by the media and political parties. I have worked with fine black teachers and community leaders but they are overshadowed by black leaders who do not help them as a whole.
Blacks need to be encouraged to help themselves and others no matter what the race of the person is. Instead some black leaders encourage their communities to hate people of other races. We need to help each other as a whole.
Threats of lawsuits because of race are among things setting us back as a society.
I would like to see Jamie go out to the field and investigate leaders like Farrakhan, Jackson and some members of political parties who extort the black community for their own financial and political agenda. The ideal of throw some money their way and that should keep them ignorant and happy is unacceptable.
The black community needs better representation to reach out and teach people to help better themselves. Instead we have a political system of giving political leaders blank checks in hope that they use it to better people they claim to represent.
Social programs are constantly failing and the advancement of blacks are being silenced by political machines who just want the money to come in at any cost. We need fiscal responsibilty and positive results.
That would be hard line reporting but the media and certain political parties would silence him.
I feel sad for reporters because it is easier to target low level government employees trying to the best they can.
I don’t know the officers in the story and maybe they are bad apples but that needs to be determined first. I don’t see hard evidence except for a one sided point of view. Bonds is suing and my guess is she will take a quick cash settlement.
I don’t understand where are the facts as some responders have claimed.
In my case if I am sued, I have witnesses but will slick lawyers get them silenced or will students not be called to testify. I am sure the slick lawyers will however get the students who aided in my beating to testify against me. In the end the CPS will most likely settle and another bad lesson will be learned. In my case the student and his mother have nothing to lose.
Who do I sue and blame?

Perhaps this is why the police get so angery. The police are human too, and it’s probably difficult night after night, day after day, to watch humans treat each other so inhumanely. And by the way, isn’t their job to get the drugs out of the buildings, along with the gang bangers and lookouts (Betty Boop), to make life better for those who are innocent. When you hear about a child getting shot due to gang activity – remember it’s the cops who are out there, yeah, maybe getting angry, but putting their life on the line to clean out the bad guys and doing what they can to prevent this from happening again and again.

Perhaps this is why the police get so angery. The police are human too, and it’s probably difficult night after night, day after day, to watch humans treat each other so inhumanely. And by the way, isn’t their job to get the drugs out of the buildings, along with the gang bangers and lookouts , to make life better for those who are innocent. When you hear about a child getting shot due to gang activity – remember it’s the cops who are out there, yeah, maybe getting angry, but putting their life on the line to clean out the bad guys and doing what they can to prevent this from happening again and again.

u full of shit, thats wats wrong wit people today, i met her and she is as nice as can be people just too damn stubborn to take the time to listen to what others have to say. What if this happened to u wouldn’t u want someone to believe u.

i am so hurt by this, i use to date her son and can’t believe something like this could happen to a person as loving as her, Ms. Diane ain’t neva do nothing to nobody, I just want u to know that i am always thinkin and prayin for u. I miss my baby he was my first love, but i was too young to make my own decisions. Always Thinking of U (Willie Darrio Murphy)